1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices useful in the care and treatment of incapacitated persons, and more particularly, to a bathing assembly which can be used to advantage in washing and cleansing persons who have difficulty in ambulating, and/or sitting in an upright position.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A number of devices have previously been proposed to facilitate the bathing of hospital patients in instances where they cannot easily walk to a bathroom, or where such patients are bedfast and even are prevented by injury or disease from sitting in an upright position. Devices of this type generally contemplate bathing of the incapacitated person with relatively little change from the positional status of that person in undergoing treatment or convalescence, which is usually a bedfast status. The devices previously proposed for this purpose also generally make due allowance for the physical difficulties entailed in lifting and moving such persons from a bed to a location where the bathing is to be accomplished.
As an example of some of the devices which have been proposed for bathing patients in hospitals, such a system is disclosed in Bernier U.S. Pat. No. 1,451,437 which includes a sheet of waterproof material positioned above a mattress and adapted to be connected to side frame members of the bed, which frame members are elevatable. Elevation of the frame members to which the waterproof material is attached is accomplished by a tubular telescoping arrangement in which tubes forming a portion of the frame members to which the waterproof material is attached are caused to slide up and down within slightly larger fixed or stationary tube members.
Saunders U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,873 describes a bath which is superimposed upon a bed, and includes a crank mechanisn for elevating the head of the bed so that the head of the patient is maintained well above the water level during bathing.
Scroggin U.S. Pat. No. 1,263,611 describes a bathing apparatus supported upon a frame and capable of vertical adjustment in relation to the frame.
Other patents of interest in the area of bathing structures previously proposed for use in bathing incapacitated persons include those disclosed in Stowe U.S. Pat. No. 568,811; Blimberg U.S. Pat. No. 2,329,326; Boward U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,302; Burrow U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,646; Hoffman U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,514; Schmidt U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,246,346; 3,373,451 and 3,557,392; and Hoxeng et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,360.